This article seeks to evaluate the current theorization of early Chinese cinema by forging a multilayered dialogue—dialogue among the group working on vernacular modernism in Chinese cinema,between this group and ear...This article seeks to evaluate the current theorization of early Chinese cinema by forging a multilayered dialogue—dialogue among the group working on vernacular modernism in Chinese cinema,between this group and early cinema theory in general,between early cinema theory and new cultural history in Western humanistic disciplines,and between film and literature in cultural history of modern China. To facilitate such a dialogue,I organize conceptual and methodological issues under three headings—collective sensorium,vernacular modernism,and new cultural history. While I closely engage the works of Miriam Hansen and Zhang Zhen,I also bring in Leo Lee’s and Bao Weihong’s methodologies and reference the newest development in a media archaeology of film history and theory.展开更多
文摘This article seeks to evaluate the current theorization of early Chinese cinema by forging a multilayered dialogue—dialogue among the group working on vernacular modernism in Chinese cinema,between this group and early cinema theory in general,between early cinema theory and new cultural history in Western humanistic disciplines,and between film and literature in cultural history of modern China. To facilitate such a dialogue,I organize conceptual and methodological issues under three headings—collective sensorium,vernacular modernism,and new cultural history. While I closely engage the works of Miriam Hansen and Zhang Zhen,I also bring in Leo Lee’s and Bao Weihong’s methodologies and reference the newest development in a media archaeology of film history and theory.
